Agricultural engineer Ufuk Bora started producing succulents and ornamental plants in a 2,500-square-meter indoor area in Karsiyaka District of Antalya. Ufuk Bora, who reached the production capacity of 20,000 indoor ornamental plants and 50,000 cacti in the facility he established approximately 8 years ago and modernized 2 years ago, said that he especially wanted to reduce cactus imports. Agricultural engineer Ufuk Bora said, “We have hundreds of types of cacti. We have more than 150 varieties. We continue production with cacti in different colors, different sizes and different shapes. Many varieties of the same species are in different colors, shapes and sizes. Our cacti are similar to each other, but they are different.” Our species in different colors and sizes attract attention. We dominate the domestic market, but Turkey imports a lot of cacti from abroad. We started this production to reduce imports. There are very few facilities in Antalya that produce in this way. Since not enough cacti I produced in Turkey, Turkey resorts to imports to fulfill the domestic market demand. We need to increase both the quality and the number of production in quantity,”
Explaining that a more special indoor environment is needed to produce cacti and ornamental plants, Ufuk Bora said, “Attention and experience are required. Pots and peat are required. These have a cost, but they mostly have maintenance and labor costs. There was this type of production only in three places in Turkey: Yalova, Adana, and Izmir. We said, ‘Why not in Antalya? and started producing here.'”
Source: Gun Haber